Renting

I love my roomies, but while I have a sizable savings account and decent income, they are barely living paycheck to paycheck, even with help from family. Our rent is going up and though they've assured me they can afford it, I'm getting nervous. I don't want to loan them money, but I do want to stay current on our bills.

If I had EVER spent $2700 on any apartment I lived in, it would have been a “look at my design flair” orgasm. With ownership, all that “make things pretty” money gets sucked into the “make things functional in the long term” hole. So without further ado, I would like to let all those frustrated renters out there know the eight ways how you might have the better end of the design deal…

I've never — not even once — been late on the rent in all my adult life. I have a stable job at a world-class University. I make a decent income. I'm not rich, but I can pay the bills and live comfortably. So why, then, am I seen as a "liability" to landlords? Oh, right. The single mom stigma.

We have a whole tag full of safety tips that you might want to peruse. But perhaps the best advice on this subject came from a comment left on this post by Offbeat Homie Stilleto. She had a fabulous breakdown on temporary home security measures…